This iPhone 14 Pro prototype has a haptic volume key, showing what could have been – and what still might come

• A video has shown off an iPhone 14 Pro prototype
• This unreleased design has haptic volume and power buttons
• The unified volume button design is reminiscent of a rumored iPhone 17 Pro feature

Apple seems to have developed an obsession with buttons during the last couple of iPhone generations, specifically with changing buttons (consider the move from a mute switch to an Action button) and adding them (see the new Camera Control button).

Previous leaks suggested that Apple had also experimented with various other iPhone button changes in recent years, and now we’ve seen a prototype showing one of these proposed changes in action.

YouTuber Apple Demo (via 9to5Mac) has shown off a prototype iPhone 14 Pro, complete with a haptic volume button. Rather than the two volume keys on current iPhones, the model in question just has a single button, and it’s a solid-state button rather than a mechanical one – meaning it won’t move when pressed, but is designed to provide haptic feedback, so you know the press has been registered.

This prototype uses the same technology for the power button, but it’s the volume buttons that we’re most interested in here, because an iPhone 17 Pro leak suggests this upcoming phone could have a single button in place of the volume buttons and the Action button.

That, then, would be different to what we see here, but with this prototype, Apple has already replaced two volume keys with a single button, so it’s partway to what this leak suggests.

Possibly still planned

Now, this iPhone 17 Pro leak doesn’t say whether a solid-state button will be used, but this is an idea Apple has seemingly spent a while exploring, with Apple Insider previously sharing images of an iPhone 15 Pro Max prototype that also had a unified, haptic volume button. On top of which, some leaks even suggested Apple might equip the iPhone 16 series with solid-state buttons.

That of course didn’t happen, and leaks suggest Apple eventually gave up on the idea due to its complexity. But given the company’s current obsession with changing up the buttons on its phones, and the aforementioned leak about a new combined button on the iPhone 17 Pro, it’s possible that Apple is still working on some version of this concept.

Of course, that doesn’t mean an iPhone 17 Pro with unified volume buttons – let alone solid-state ones – will actually launch, but it’s a possibility. And if not, then this iPhone 14 Pro prototype is still an interesting look at what could have been.

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James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.